An octave-spanning mid-infrared frequency comb generated in a silicon nanophotonic wire waveguide

Laser frequency combs, sources with a spectrum consisting of hundred thousands evenly spaced narrow lines, have an exhilarating potential for new approaches to molecular spectroscopy and sensing in the mid-infrared region. The generation of such broadband coherent sources is presently under active exploration. Technical challenges have slowed down such developments. Identifying a versatile highly nonlinear medium for significantly broadening a mid-infrared comb spectrum remains challenging. Here we take a different approach to spectral broadening of mid-infrared frequency combs and investigate CMOS-compatible highly nonlinear dispersion-engineered silicon nanophotonic waveguides on a silicon-on-insulator chip. We record octave-spanning (1,500–3,300 nm) spectra with a coupled input pulse energy as low as 16 pJ. We demonstrate phase-coherent comb spectra broadened on a room-temperature-operating CMOS-compatible chip.